The development of automated poultry processing equipment has dramatically increased the speed and efficiency of poultry processing. Most modern poultry processing equipment comprise several automated stations at which a plurality of different processing steps can be performed in an automated manner, while the carcasses are being conveyed therealong, along a processing or conveying path, suspended by their legs from shackles depending from an overhead conveyor. Various processing machines are disposed along the processing path for operating upon the suspended carcasses progressively as they move along the path to prepare the poultry for public sale and consumption. A typical poultry processing line might, for example, include a vent cutter, a bird opener, an eviscerator, a neck breaker, a lung puller and a crop remover. In addition, such a processing line might include machines for cutting up or subdividing the carcasses into their various commonly consumed pieces or parts such as breast, backs, wings, legs, drumsticks and thighs.
In their continuous attempts to process and offer to the public poultry parts of a constant quality and shape, the food processing industry and restaurants have a need for poultry parts that do not vary in dimensions to such a degree that processing would require additional attention and interventions and the consumer would be offered poultry parts that differ from each other in shape or weight to a noticeable extent.
Presently known poultry processing equipment adapted for cutting wings, legs, thighs and/or drumsticks comprise a stationary guiding and centring system for guiding and centring the carcasses along past stationary circular cutting knives that are oriented to cut through the carcass at the desired location. An example of such equipment is disclosed in Dutch patent application 86.02208, in which an apparatus is described with which the carcasses depending from an overhead conveyor are cut through according to a substantially horizontal cut midway their body and subsequently the upper part and the lower part are driven separately by means of the overhead conveyor and a chain conveyor positioned below and engaging the lower part, respectively, to vertically arranged cutting knives in order to separate each of these parts into halves, each comprising a leg or a wing.
Another example of such equipment is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,251,901, according to which the carcasses are conveyed side by side depending from an overhead conveyor passed along an elongated carrousel which has a section that runs parallel to the conveyor and is provided with a plurality of holding members for holding the carcasses in a correct orientation when the carcasses are passed along one of the stationary cutting knives. The carrousel comprises cam tracks so as to cant the holding members in a vertical plane perpendicular to the direction of travel of the carcasses.
Yet another example of such equipment is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,490. In this known apparatus the carcasses are supported by block-shaped supports which are provided with a plurality of carcass support bars and are suspended on an overhead conveyor system travelling according to a closed elongated roundgoing path. The carcasses are slid onto the blockshaped supports by hand. The block-shaped supports can be rotated about a vertical axis in order to position the carcasses in a first section with the breast sidewards to be cut transversely by two knives arranged at one same side of the path of travel and mutually including an angle to remove a breast portion, in a second section with the back forward to enable two cutting knives placed on either side of the path of travel to cut off the wings and one central cutting knife to cut the carcass longitudinally and in a third section with its breast to the side again to enable one lateral cutting knife to cut the carcass halves in one cross cut over their full width and another lateral cutting knife to cut through the legs to separate the thighs from the drum sticks.
These known processing equipments are capable of delivering poultry parts or pieces which for the main part vary only to a limited extent from each other, yet it may occur that the dimensions of like parts differ from each other to an unacceptable degree. Moreover, even small differences in the size of like parts may lead to refused poultry parts for the reason that the above-mentioned industries request poultry parts that are virtually identical.
Thus there is a need for poultry processing apparatus for cutting up carcasses of poultry into at least two pairs of mutually substantially similar parts, in particular two parts comprising a wing and two parts comprising a leg which allows for a separation of the said parts with a high degree of reciprocability and reliability.
It is an object of the invention to provide such an apparatus.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such an apparatus with which the carcasses can be processed at high speeds.
It is still a further object of the invention to provide an automated apparatus of the type described above which processes the carcasses with a high degree of accuracy.
It is yet a further object of the invention to provide an apparatus for cutting up carcasses of poultry into three pairs of mutually substantially similar parts, in particular two parts comprising a wing, two parts comprising a full leg and two parts comprising breast and back portions adjoining and intermediate said wing parts and said full leg parts.